What's the difference between last touch and first touch
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Last touch and first touch are two different attribution models used in Mixpanel to assign credit for conversions or other important events in a user's journey. Here's the key difference between them: 1. Last Touch: This model gives 100% credit to the last touchpoint within the attribution lookback window. It focuses on the most recent interaction before a conversion.2. First Touch: This model gives 100% credit to the first touchpoint within the attribution lookback window. It emphasizes the initial interaction that brought a user to your product or website.The choice between these models depends on what you want to measure: - Last touch is often used for bottom-funnel campaigns, as it helps identify which channels are most effective at driving immediate conversions. - First touch is typically used for top-funnel or prospecting campaigns, as it helps understand which channels are best at bringing in new users or initiating customer journeys.It's worth noting that Mixpanel allows you to compare multiple attribution models side-by-side, giving you a more comprehensive view of your marketing performance.Mixpanel Blog: Marketing reports that calculate campaign ROI provides more context on how these models can be applied in different scenarios.
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Bottom-funnel and top-funnel campaigns refer to marketing efforts targeting different stages of the customer journey. Let me explain each based on the information from our knowledge sources: Top-funnel campaigns: These are marketing initiatives aimed at the early stages of the customer journey, focusing on awareness and initial engagement. They are designed to reach a broad audience and introduce them to your product or service. According to the Mixpanel blog: 1. Top-funnel campaigns are good for driving reach and are often measured using a first-touch attribution model. 2. They focus on metrics like sessions, unique users, and new users generated by each campaign. 3. The goal is to understand initial engagement and prospecting efforts.Mixpanel Blog: Marketing reports that calculate campaign ROI mentions that top-funnel campaigns can be evaluated using metrics like sign-ups and pricing page visits after initial exposure to a campaign.Bottom-funnel campaigns: These campaigns target users who are closer to making a purchase decision. They focus on converting interested prospects into customers. The same blog post provides insights: 1. Bottom-funnel campaigns are typically measured using a last-touch attribution model. 2. They focus on metrics directly related to revenue, such as purchases and their attributed value. 3. The goal is to drive conversions and revenue from users who are already familiar with your product or service.It's important to note that both types of campaigns play crucial roles in the overall marketing strategy. Top-funnel campaigns build awareness and interest, while bottom-funnel campaigns capitalize on that interest to drive conversions. Understanding the performance of both helps in allocating marketing resources effectively across the entire customer journey.
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Your question touches on an important aspect of UTM tracking and attribution in Mixpanel. Let me clarify based on the information from our knowledge sources: 1. Last Touch Attribution vs. UTM Tracking: Last touch attribution and UTM tracking are related but distinct concepts in Mixpanel: - Last touch attribution is an attribution model that gives 100% credit to the last touchpoint within the attribution lookback window, as explained in the [Mixpanel Documentation on Attribution Models](https://docs.mixpanel.com/docs/features/attribution#attribution-models). - UTM tracking, on the other hand, is about capturing UTM parameters from URLs that users click to reach your site. 2. UTM Tracking in Mixpanel: By default, Mixpanel's JavaScript SDK tracks UTM parameters in two ways: a) First-touch UTM tracking: [Mixpanel Documentation on Traffic Attribution](https://docs.mixpanel.com/docs/tracking-best-practices/traffic-attribution) states: "Mixpanel's Javascript library will also track initial_utm_parameters as a profile property, based on the first ever visit. This is helpful as if a user makes a purchase or completes some other important event, it is important to know what acquisition channel brought them to your site originally." b) Event-level UTM tracking: The same documentation mentions: "The JavaScript library will automatically add any UTM parameters (utm_source, utm_campaign, utm_medium, utm_term, utm_content, utm_id, utm_source_platform, utm_campaign_id, utm_creative_format, utm_marketing_tactic) present on the page to events fired from that page load." 3. Last-touch UTM tracking: While not enabled by default, Mixpanel does provide a way to implement last-touch UTM tracking. According to the [Mixpanel Documentation on Last-Touch UTM Tracking](https://docs.mixpanel.com/docs/tracking-best-practices/traffic-attribution#last-touch-utm-tracking): "It can also be helpful to track UTM tags in a last-touch manner, which would set the UTM tag to the most recent value detected for the user. This allows you to evaluate the effectiveness of more recent acquisition channels on your user's behavior." The documentation provides a code snippet to implement this functionality, which updates UTM super properties and profile properties with the most recent values. Regarding your specific use case of inserting UTM information when a purchase is made: This wouldn't typically be considered "last touch" in the traditional sense, as UTM parameters are usually associated with the traffic source that brought the user to your site. However, if you have a specific business need to associate certain UTM-like parameters with a purchase event, you could certainly track those as custom event properties.
Remember, the goal of UTM tracking is typically to understand which marketing channels and campaigns are driving traffic and conversions. If you're looking to associate additional metadata with purchase events, you might want to consider using custom event properties instead of overwriting UTM data.
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Last-touch UTM tracking is commonly used in specific scenarios where understanding the most recent marketing touchpoints is crucial. Based on the information from our knowledge sources, here are some common use cases for last-touch UTM tracking: 1. Evaluating Recent Acquisition Channels: According to the Mixpanel Documentation on Last-Touch UTM Tracking, "It can also be helpful to track UTM tags in a last-touch manner, which would set the UTM tag to the most recent value detected for the user. This allows you to evaluate the effectiveness of more recent acquisition channels on your user's behavior."2. Bottom-Funnel Campaigns: As mentioned in the Mixpanel Blog: Marketing reports that calculate campaign ROI, last-touch attribution is often used for bottom-funnel campaigns. These are campaigns focused on driving conversions from users who are closer to making a purchase decision. Last-touch UTM tracking can help identify which channels are most effective at driving immediate conversions.3. Multi-Touch Attribution Analysis: When performing multi-touch attribution analysis, last-touch data is crucial. As stated in the Mixpanel Blog on Marketing Analytics, "Multi-touch attribution models give you insights into what campaigns or pages your users interacted with before converting. Ideally, you want to be able to track first-touch, last-touch, and everything your users interacted with in between, so that you get a complete picture of their journey."4. Retargeting Campaigns: Last-touch UTM tracking can be particularly useful for retargeting campaigns. For example, if a user abandons their cart and later returns to complete a purchase after seeing a retargeting ad, last-touch tracking would capture this interaction.5. Assessing Recent Marketing Efforts: If you've recently changed your marketing strategy or launched new campaigns, last-touch UTM tracking can help you quickly assess the impact of these recent efforts on user behavior and conversions.It's important to note that while last-touch UTM tracking provides valuable insights, it should often be used in conjunction with other attribution models for a comprehensive understanding of your marketing performance. Mixpanel allows for comparison of multiple attribution models, including first-touch, last-touch, and various multi-touch models, to give a more complete picture of the user journey.
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Your understanding is on the right track, but let me clarify and refine it based on the information from our knowledge sources: First-touch attribution indeed focuses more on the acquisition path of users, but it's not limited to just new users. According to the Mixpanel Blog: Marketing reports that calculate campaign ROI, first-touch attribution is typically used for: 1. Top-funnel campaigns 2. Prospecting campaigns 3. Understanding what initially brought users to your product or websiteThe blog states: "First Touch - Gives 100% credit to the first touchpoint within the attribution lookback window."Last-touch attribution, on the other hand, doesn't necessarily focus on the specific action path of existing users. Instead, it focuses on the most recent touchpoint before a conversion, regardless of whether the user is new or existing. The same blog post mentions that last-touch attribution is often used for: 1. Bottom-funnel campaigns 2. Understanding which channels are most effective at driving immediate conversionsThe blog states: "Last Touch - Gives 100% credit to the last touchpoint within the attribution lookback window."It's important to note that both models can be applied to both new and existing users. The key difference is the point in the user journey that each model emphasizes: - First-touch highlights the initial interaction that brought a user to your product or website. - Last-touch emphasizes the final interaction before a conversion or other important event.As the Mixpanel Blog on Marketing Analytics suggests, ideally, you'd want to track both first-touch and last-touch (and everything in between) to get a complete picture of the user journey. This is where multi-touch attribution models come into play, allowing you to see the full path from acquisition to conversion for both new and existing users.
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